Device for regulating teeth



(No Model.) v

J J. R. PATRIGK.

DEVICE FOR REGULATING TEETH.

Patented Mar. 20

' izllllli WITNESSES ATTORNEYS UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN J. R. PATRICK, ()F BELLEVILLE, ILLINOIS.

DEVICE'FOR REGULATING TEETH.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 274,367, dated March 20, 1883.

Application filed November 8, 1882. (No model.) 7

To alt whom it may concern Be it known that I, J onn J. R. PATRICK, a

. citizen of the United States, and a resident of Belleville, in the county of St. Clair and State of Illinois, have invented a new and valuable Improvement in Devices for Regulating Teeth and I do hereby declare that the following is a 4 full, clear, and exact description of the con- Fig. 2 is a perspective view. Fig. 3 is an enlarged detail section, and Fig. 4 is an enlarged perspective detail view.

This invention has relation to devices for regulating irregular and projecting teeth; and it consists in the construction and novel arrangement of parts, as will be hereinafter fully described, and particularly pointed out in the claims appended.

The object of this invention is to provide a simple and convenient instrument for rectifying the position of teeth of either the superior maxillary or inferiormaxillary, which, when properly arranged, will operate in a constant and automatic manner.

In the accompanying drawings, the letter adesignates the body of the instrument, which is made ofhalf-round wire, preferably composed of an alloy of fifteen parts of gold and one of platinum, drawn down hard to the required thickness. The body a may be made of steel wire treated in the same manner. The wire is bent in how form, so as to embrace with its flat surface the dental arch, the extreme ends of the wire being designed to rest gently on the external lateral surfaces of the first or second molars, as the case may require. The wire is provided with slides b and c,which embrace it accurately, so as to move steadily. To these slides various connections or bearing appliances are attached. 1n the drawings the slides 0 are represented as carrying wedges w, hooks h, of various lengths and of diiierent elevations and depressions, horizontal hooks, and loops 1. Single and double T-hooks are also employed, as well as various special bearlugs designed to suit the exigencies of particular cases. The slides I) b are provided with threaded bearin gs d to receive the b0ss-l1eaded set-screws c, the ends of which are designed to bearagainst the bow, thereby securing the slides in position after adjustment. The slides carry the loop-hands g, which are fitted to the teeth, which they are designed to embrace, and furnish, in connection with the slides and setscrews, ready means of fastening the instrument when in position. By these devices the fixed bearing-points for the elastic how a are formed.

The power of the instrument is in the clasticity of the bow-shaped wire or spring a.,whicl1 is designed to operate through the medium of the bearings at g g, and the hooks h, wedges w, or other appliances upon the tooth or teeth'to be moved. The action of the spring may be a kind of elastic leverage, or the direct inherent pressure of the spring may be utilized; or the spring may have a greater bend than that of the dental arch, and may operate by its expansive force.

In some cases the pressure-points can be changed without releasing the set-screws-as,

for example, when the bearing loops or bands g embrace the second bicuspids and the extremities z of the spring rest on the first molars, if the extremities of the how are bent inwardly so as to press on the molars, then the second bicnspids become the resistance or the bodies to be moved. When any one of the six front teeth projects beyond the dental arch, and the wedges 'w are brought to bear on the projecting tooth, or when the bow shaped spring, without the wedges, is made to bear thereon, the pressure is the same, the wedges, however, serving as means whereby the tension can be increased from time to time withthe bow-spring.

a tendency to slip toward the gum, a hook connected to one of its slides is snapped over the cutting-edge of a toothand serves to hold it in position. As a rule, however, when the front teeth are found projecting outside the arch the premolars will be found repressed or inside the arch. Therefore, in order to widen the arch in a lateral direction, the loop-slides I should be connected to the first premolars, in addition to the securing-bands g, which embrace the second premolars, and the ends of the bow-spring should be bent inwardly to bear against the first molars. This will cause the power to be'exerted by expansion in the region of the premolars, pulling them laterally outward, and to a less extent pressure will be exerted inwardlyupon the projecting incisors. In cases where the alveoli, and palat tine processes of the superior maxillary are constricted in the region of the premolars and molars, the bow-spring should be first adjusted so as to touch all the teeth when at rest. Then the loop-slides and fastening-bands are put in place, the bow-sprin g placed against the slides and marked to indicate their position, the loops and bands then removed and put in-place on The bow-spring should now be expanded and sprung to its place,when its lateralexpansionwillperform thework. When the premolars and molars are outside the arch the bow-spring should be laterally compressed and secured to the laterally-projecting teeth. It will then act by constriction, and will gradually repress the teeth, moving them inward to their proper position. \Vhen the anterior or six front teeth are on the outside of the dental arch and are to be moved inward, the length of the bow-spring in front of the fasteningbands must be taken up from time to time by sliding its branches back inthe slides of said bands and resetting the screws. It theanterior teeth are within the arch and are to be moved outward, the bow-spring mustbe let out or adjusted forward from time to time. These changes can be made without removing the instrument from the mouth, as the bowspring and set-screw slides are outside the line of teeth.

What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. An adjustable elastic arch-bar having the general form of the dental arch, and provided with sliding band-fastenings and set-screws,

and with slides carrying loops, wedges, hooks,.

and other appliances, substantially as specified.

2. An adjustable elastic arch-bar having the general form of the dental arch, and provided with sliding band-fastenings, and with slides JOHN JOSEPH RAVENSCROFT PATRICK.

Witnesses:

GEORGE W. SOHUESSLER, RoswnLL BaooKs PATTERSON. 

